Footloose hero McCormack / FRI 2-10-12 / Spartan toiler / Onetime pickling liquid / Tony's Taras Bulba co-star 1962 / Longtime Dodgers coach Manny / Only Englishman named Dr. of Church / Maker of fabrics with intricate designs

Constructor: Barry C. Silk and Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

 THEME: none

Word of the Day: JACQUARD LOOM (54A: Maker of fabrics with intricate designs) —

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask and matelasse. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order. It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Baptiste Falcon (1728) and Jacques Vaucanson (1740) (wikipedia)

• • •

Never heard of either of the long Acrosses, so ... yeah. Not much joy there. Fighting for every letter of an answer that ultimately means nothing to you—not the most pleasant experience. POLITICAL DNA (18A: Party makeup?) I've probably heard somewhere, once or twice, but it seems pretty weak, as in-the-language colloquial phrases go. My first page of google hits for the phrase gives me a Facebook page with that title and two different stories about Nancy Pelosi's daughter. Shrug. Rest of the grid was pretty nice, with lots of late-week trickiness in the clues. But looms just don't excite me, and there's not much else to get very excited about. It's a very serviceable, solid puzzle, for the most part. A good 10-minute workout for me today. That's about 2-3 minutes over my average, and all of that time was spent a. figuring out those two mystery Acrosses, and b. remembering how to spell DE RIGUEUR (6D: Proper). Man, that "UEU" combo just eluded me. I kept forgetting the first "U" and thinking "Why Won't It Fit?" 


I just put HELOT in a puzzle I constructed. I wasn't proud, but I did it anyway. It's a solid, if somewhat arcane, word. It'll do. Beats ALEGAR, that's for sure (I remember learning that word years ago, from crosswords, of course; never seen it since, til now) (16A: Onetime pickling liquid). Had a back-and-forth about "Throw Momma From the Train" with some friends recently (I have a "Screening 1987" Facebook group that is watching one 1987 movie a week, all year long— "Throw Momma" is on the schedule). Momma's saying "OWEN" was one of the things I remembered best about that movie. I apparently have no idea what it means to be named a "Dr. of the Church." Which Church? Catholic? I have "Dr. Donne" in my head (a metaphorical rather than literal title, probably), so I was thinking Anglican Church, which of course made the whole "Only Englishman" thing completely bizarred. "But ... it's the Anglican Church ... so ... what?" (29A: Only Englishman named a Dr. of the Church = ST. BEDE). The phrase "'Footloose' hero" made me laugh, so even though that's a crazy clue for REN, I approve (12D: "Footloose" hero McCormack).


Bullets:

• 32A: Tony's "Taras Bulba" co-star, 1962 (YUL) — "Taras Bulba" may as well be a JACQUARD LOOM for all I know about it (saw it used in a puzzle once as a clue for "TARAS," I think). No idea who "Tony" is here (it's Curtis). 
• 59A: Running quarterly, for short? (COIN-OP) — yeah, that's a good "?" clue.
• 10D: Longtime Dodgers coach Manny (MOTA) — 32 consecutive years as a Dodgers coach. Keep in mind, that's not the same as *the* coach, i.e. the manager. Still, impressive.
• 13D: Ending for AriZona flavors (-ADE) — they make sugary drinks and "teas" and what not. -ADE was an educated guess.
• 51D: Like the Navajo language (TONAL) — I thought 63A: Reacted to a punch was WEAVED, so I had this answer ending in "V." Not a lot of options. YAKOV? PART V?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Trick-taking game / SAT 11-26-11 / Sambuca flavorers / 18th-century London political literary establishment / Target of criticism Vincent Bugliosi's 1996 book Outrage

Constructor: Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

 Word of the Day: KLABERJASS (27D: Trick-taking game) —

Klaberjass or Bela is a widespread international trick-taking card game that is most popular in Jewish communities. In its basic form it is a 6-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. // As in other point-trick games of the King–Queen group, players can score points for the "marriage" (bela) of king and queen of trumps. The distinguishing feature of Klaberjass is that the jack (Yass) and nine (Menel) of trumps are elevated to the highest ranks and highest card point scores. (wikipedia)

• • •

A suitably tough Saturday that ended up being less than satisfying because of several long answers I'd just never heard of, the most notable being KLABERJASS. I don't care how "widespread" wikipedia says it is, I'll eat my hat if most of you have heard of it before. Not some of you—this is an answer designed to delight the constructor and that minority of solvers who know and play and possibly love the game—most of you. If you've never heard of it, then no amount of crosses helps. You need them all, and when you finally get it, there's no joy, no wow, no nothing. Just gibberish. In this case, long gibberish. So I am stumped, and I learn a new word (I'll never need again), and that's something, but entertaining it's not. When I (finally) got CHAIR BED, I assumed it was a makeshift bed created by the pushing together of two chairs (1A: What might unfold when you have guests). I've never ever heard of a CHAIR BED. I wrote in HIDEABED right away. CHAIR BED? I can barely look at that answer. I checked, and of course CHAIR BEDs are actual things, in that you can buy them at K-Mart, but ugh. The less said about OOFY the better (28A: Rich, in slang). The one stumper that I feel bad about not knowing was KITCATCLUB (29A: 18th-century London political / literary establishment). The puzzle is generally well constructed (not surprising—Mr. Wilber's usually are), so I, despite my considerable ignorance, could still reach the finish line because of fair crosses.



One thing you'll notice in a low word-count puzzle (typically) is a preponderance of words ending -ER or -ERS. Most every point where the last letters of two words intersect, you will see an "S" or "ER" or "ERS." When you've got this much white space to fill, the stress starts to show first around the edges in this way. Now, to this puzzle's credit, it doesn't resort to really horribly made-up-sounding words, like RE-ICERS or something (I made that up, but I assume it's a legitimate cake-related word). You can hardly fault the intersection of BAD LOSER and BARTENDER. Still, I always notice the heavy padding of -ER and -ERS in low word-count puzzles. Once you dip into the mid-60s, word-count wise, the chances of your having a really compelling, scintillating, memorable grid diminish considerably. At those depths, even a superior constructor is only going to producer tolerable, passable work most of the time.



JUDGE ITO has the same number of letters as LANCE ITO (15A: Target of criticism in Vincent Bugliosi's 1996 book "Outrage"), I found out the hard way. I assumed [Bouillabaisse base, sometimes] was some kind of FISH for a while. That also hurt. CLAM BROTH seems arbitrary, but, I'm sure, accurate enough. Once I changed ETAS to ETDS, I saw ANISEEDS (17A: Sambuca flavorers), which was vital to my (finally) getting those long Downs in the NW. "ANIMAL FARM" in particular gave me fits. Completely forgot there was a Napoleon in that (3D: Napoleon is a commander in it). I lucked out in the musical realm—got Randy TRAVIS with no crosses and only a few seconds of thought / humming, and I'm not even a (modern) country fan (16A: Singer of the #1 country hit "Forever and Ever, Amen"). Also got HERB ALPERT off the -ERT (35A: "Whipped Cream & Other Delights"). Speaking of whipped cream and other delights, I've been eating chocolate pie every few hours for over 24 hours now, and putting whipped cream on and in whatever seems to warrant it. Especially coffee.


I just started watching "Friday Night Lights," so I have no idea who this AIMEE Teegarden person is, but once I had the -EE ending, guessing her name wasn't tough (40A: Teegarden of TV's "Friday Night Lights"). EVIE was slightly tougher, but the crosses helped me out (12D: One of the Wilcoxs in "Howards End"). Never heard of a LUNE, but, again: crosses. Had CAPE for [Bullfighting cloak], obviously (CAPA). Very fixable. Thought LES was the Fender of Fender guitars (LEO)—thanks a lot, LES Paul. CAMISOLE is not a particularly British word, so I don't know why "knickers" was in its clue (33D: Knickers go-with), but it's not like the reference was confusing.

Have a lovely day. I know I will. 42!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

French actress Saint-Cyr / SAT 3-26-11 / Constellation next to Pavo / Creature revered by Mayans / Quarry boss of cartoons / Film villain sings Daisy

Constructor: Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none


Word of the Day: QUETZAL (42D: Creature revered by the Mayans) —

Quetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family (Trogonidae). They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico (marginally also in adjacent U.S. states). They are fairly large (all over 32 cm or 13 inches), slightly bigger than other trogon species. Trogons have iridescent green or golden-green wing coverts, back, chest and head, and a red belly. They are strongly sexually dimorphic, and parts of the females' plumage is brown or grey. These largely solitary birds feed on fruits, berries, insects and small vertebrates (e.g. frogs), and can, despite the bright plumage, be surprisingly difficult to see in their wooded habitats. (wikipedia)

• • •

Too lazy to get off the couch, go upstairs, print out puzzle, and solve it on paper, so I just grabbed my laptop and solved while lying on the couch, with college basketball blaring nearby and with various bedtime preparations happening around me. Even with the distractions, and the utter lack of speed urgency on my part, I still finished in just a shade over 9—fast for me, for a Saturday, and wicked fast for me for a Brad Wilber Saturday. If only I'd remembered stupid CHÈVRE more quickly (1A: Goat cheese), I'd have been even faster. Very little resistance today. Biggest issues—figuring out what [Gone con] was after ("oh ... a con who has gone ... gotcha") (ESCAPEE); trying to remember which HENRY I was after (IV) (2D: John of Gaunt's son); convincing myself QUETZAL could stand on its own, without COATL; getting to HOGTIE from HOBBLE (65A: Render helpless) ... and that's pretty much it. Really like this grid—lots of Scrabbly letters and interesting words/phrases, not a lot of dreck. You can keep your stunt grids with the stacked 15s and big white spaces and what not. I'll take a modest-looking 70-72-word grid with tough clues and bouncy, in-the-language, original fill (BYE WEEK!) (45D: Idle stretch for an N.F.L. team) any day.

There were a few things I just didn't know—RENEE Saint-Cyr, for instance (36D: French actress Saint-Cyr). I know Lili St. Cyr (grrr...), but not RENEE. Knew QUEEN MAB and HESIOD, but their clues didn't make them easy to pick up (42A: She "gallops o'er a courtier's nose," in Shakespeare + 15A: Ancient "Works and Days" poet). Know SHREK, of course, but not as a musical (13D: 2009 Best Musical nominee). No idea that ARA was next to Pavo, but constellation in three letters = ARA until I'm shown otherwise. Prince HAL was the son of HENRY IV, but today the clue on HAL is much more modern and creepy (32A: Film villain who sings "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do!"). The "Daisy" scene in "2001" is amazingly sad, almost touching. I've never thought of HAL as a proper "villain." I sort of like him.



Bullets:

• 23A: Cagney's employer (NYPD) — I'm assuming this is the Cagney of "Cagney & Lacey," a show any disco-era kid (or 80s teenager) (or X'ER) would have at least a passing familiarity with.
  
• 38A: First man featured on the cover of the U.S. edition of Vogue (GERE) — apparently it's "Mildly Obscure Clues for Richard GERE" week at the NYT (see 46A, yesterday)
  
• 49A: Biden's successor on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (KERRY) — that clue, like KERRY, makes me want to sleep.
  
• 64A: So-called "wand of heaven" (ALOE VERA) — anyone so-calling it that has never been anywhere around me. Luckily, this answer was easy to pick up from crosses.
  
• 8D: They may evoke tristesse (ADIEUX) — GERE twice in two days, not that weird. ADIEUX *and* GERE twice in two days, a little weird.
  
• 26D: Brave protector (TEPEE) — I can see how this clue might have been misleading, but I had all the Es in place before I ever saw the clue.
  
• 43D: Quarry boss of cartoons (MRS. LATE) — really mean lady. Also, kind of a night owl.
  
• 56D: Beatle George studied under him (RAVI) — Shankar. "Beatle George" sounds really weird. Like Beetlejuice meets Curious George.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Chess master Averbakh /SAT 12-18-10/ Intergenerational MTV reality show / Old Rory Calhoun TV western / Poule's counterpart / Shalom Meir Tower locale

Constructor: Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: SOILURE (5D: Stain) —

1. Soiling or the condition of being soiled.
2. A blot, stain, or smudge. (answers.com)
   

• • •

[Dear syndicated solvers—It's pledge week here at the Rex Parker site (thru Saturday) —read my pitch for donations in the opening paragraphs of this past Sunday's write-up, here ... and thanks for your faithful readership (and the many kind messages I've received so far)]

Wow, I really wish I'd gotten SOILURE out of the way early on, because that is one horrible, ugly, anti-climactic way to end your puzzling experience, let me tell you. Truly one of the most off-putting words in the English language. It's barely sayable. My mouth does not want to make that succession of sounds. What's wrong with "soilage"? (which can also mean "green crops for feeding confined animals," which is strange, considering "silage" is also a kind of animal feed...). Seriously, say SOILURE out loud. Unless you are French (and maybe even then) you sound like a dirty idiot. OK, now that that's over, aside from REGINAL (yuck) (11D: Queenly), I thought this puzzle was a blast, and very much on the easy side. If I hadn't had a rock solid POLLUTE for SOILURE, and if I hadn't had to run the alphabet to get that "R" in SOILURE, I would've rated this "Easy." But the hold-up there was significant for me, and then I had a tiny bit of trouble in the NE, with PEI for LIN (18A: Designer of Alabama's Civil Rights Memorial) and no recollection of GELÉE (38A: French frost) and only dim crossword memories of SABU. Every other part of this puzzle, however, I flew through. Wed-Thur.-level for me, which is strange, considering how brutal Brad Wilber puzzles can be.

ECHO SOUNDER is too technical to be very interesting to me (1A: Aid in deep diving), but the other long stuff up there is great, as are the words in that section's SE counterpart. Just lovely. Helped quite a bit today by two pieces of random pop culture knowledge. First, ESME (1D: Woman in all four "Twilight" novels). Total gimme, though I don't remember that name at all from "Twilight." I just remember seeing the name clued via "Twilight" at least once before, and marveling at the non-Salingerity of it all. I also knew "DATE MY MOM" (30D: Intergenerational MTV reality show), only I thought it was "DATE MY DAD." Dropped it down without a single cross, I think, and then changed DAD to MOM after seeing the easy clue for SEM. (56A: Father's alma mater: Abbr.). Guessed "THE TEXAN" (39A: Old Rory Calhoun TV western) from "THE T..." and the resulting "X" made NIXON ERA (34D: When William Safire worked at the White House) supereasy to get. From there, swept through the whole SE right up to SECT (35D: One may be Protestant) without so much as blinking. Then inched my way through the middle of the grid, then set about squeezing both the NW and NE. Overall, not quite as exquisite as yesterday's grid, but still a very accomplished piece of work.

Bullets:

• 16A: Sch. with a 60-foot "Praying Hands" sculpture (ORU) — Figured it was some "U", which was semi-helpful in picking up JUNOESQUE (14D: Queenly)
  
• 25A: Marine muncher on mangrove leaves (MANATEE) — I like how the answers carries on the alliteration.
  
• 28A: Heroine of Inge's "Picnic" (MADGE) — I know only one MADGE ... wasn't she the Palmolive commercial waitress played by Ida Morgenstern? Wait, no, she was the Bounty lady ... who was the "You're soaking in it" lady? Oh, man. OK, MADGE *is* the Palmolive lady ... but what's Ida Morgenstern's name in the Bounty commercials then? Man oh man, I'm really screwed up. Nancy Walker is *Rosie* in the Bounty ads. Ida Morgenstern is the *fictional* character Nancy Walker played on "Rhoda." Well, I'm glad that's cleared up now.
  

• 32A: Poule's counterpart (COQ) — easy for me, but I'm not thrilled about this French word being so close to that other, less well known French word.
  
• 35A: Actor awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross in W.W. II (SABU) — he's just some guy who lives in crosswords, as far as I know.
  
• 41A: Disney character prone to spoonerisms (DOC) — clearly haven't seen "Snow White" in a long time, as I don't remember this at all.
  
• 46A: "Saving Fish from Drowning" novelist (AMY TAN) — had AMY before I ever saw the clue, so no sweat.
  
• 48A: Spider, Snoopy or Intrepid: Abbr. (LEM) — without "Intrepid," I'd have been lost on this one.
  
• 51A: Artwork depicted in Dali's "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" (VENUS DE MILO) — that's a great title for a painting.

• 25D: Israel Philharmonic maestro (MEHTA) — for the first few years of his life, I called my cat "ZUBIN" a lot. For no good reason. His real name sounds nothing like "ZUBIN." I just liked the way it sounded.
  
• 31A: Home to Mohammed V University (RABAT) — took a few crosses to turn up. The "B" was key.
  
• 47D: Chess master Averbakh (YURI) — no way in hell. Thankfully, it didn't matter. Never saw the clue; crosses were all quite easy.
  
• 44D: Rival of Yastrzemski for 1960s A.L. batting titles (OLIVA) — Got it off the "V" from IRA ROLLOVER, which I got off the "IR-" (eeeeasy clue—55A: Financial option upon leaving a job).
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Signature song of Peter Allen / SAT 11-6-10 / Dadaist Hausmann / Capital near Green Peter Lake / Old Chicago Outfit frontman / Rondo producer

Constructor: Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: RACEME (47D: Poinciana feature) —

n.
An inflorescence having stalked flowers arranged singly along an elongated unbranched axis, as in the lily of the valley.

[Latin racēmus, a bunch of grapes.]

• • •

OH ... MIC! (11D: Like some resistance). And things were going so well. Couldn't believe how quickly I was taking this thing apart—was clearly on my way to setting ... well, not a Saturday record, but certainly a Brad Wilber record (I think his puzzles are, on average, the toughest around). So, I'm actually getting a little spooked at how quickly stuff is falling. Went through the SE very easily, and absolutely steam-rolled the NE—threw across OUT THERE (16A: Kooky) and SAD SONGS (7A: Music that may make you get down), and then knocked off each and every one of the Downs up there, in order, without hesitation. Eerie. So, I should've known that something was up—like in horror movies when there's some scary noise but then we see that no, it's just the cat swatting at a drawstring, whew, no danger OMG AXE MURDERER! Oh, the humanity.





Today's axe murderer was the NW. OK, I'm exaggerating, but it did take me almost as long as the rest of the puzzle combined. Only way I got in was slowly, creepingly, by building the corner from the ground up. TOE LOOP (37A: Axel alternative) and SIMIAN (33A: Macaque or marmoset) were easy, but to get AROAR (28A: Like monster trucks or their spectators) I had to infer the "O" in what turned out to be GLADSOME (3D: Delightful) and the "R" in what turned out to be "I GO TO RIO" (2D: Signature song of Peter Allen). Finally figured out that the "wear" in 1D: Wear after a serious spill must be something-CAST, but ... what? I couldn't think of a suitable 4-letter word. HAND? NECK? FOOT? Those all seemed pretty weak, and none of them were giving me any entree into the Acrosses up top. Finally stopped thinking of body parts and just thought BODY. Eureka! YTD (19A: Financial report abbr.) went right in from there and then HANDSOME ... but the B-H beginning to 1A: Baseball All-Star's nickname ... or a popular food product made me realize that "H" must be wrong. So I remembered / semi-invented GLADSOME (really wanted WINSOME!) and then (unfondly) remembered Mark McGwire (aka BIG MAC). OGLALA (15A: Crazy Horse, e.g.) materialized during this process, somehow. Kind of cool that the last thing revealed to me was also one of the coolest answers: DO A JIG (17A: Physically show elation). I didn't physically show elation when I was done, but I did feel a faint sense of pride at having beaten that corner into submission despite my Peter Allen ignorance (the only Peter Allen I know was my freshman-year French professor, for whom I worked one summer on an NEH research grant ... eventually quit his tenured position to go to Wharton and eventually, I assume, earn millions).

Got TEN TO and ALIT first thing. SETHS was also a gimme (25A: Actor Rogen and others). From plural at 31D: They may appear over icons, I put in a terminal "S" and from that got SALEM (51A: Capital near Green Peter Lake). From there, all the words just congealed there at the top of the SE corner, and I went down and around the bend no problem. TOTO IV = piece of cake (64A: Triple-platinum 1982 album with the #1 hit "Africa"). "Africa" is iconic song of my youth, and ... I mean, it ended -OIV, what else was it going to be? I once insisted that the lyric in "Africa" was "I quest the rains down in Aaaaaaaaafrica." Friends insisted it was "bless," not "quest." Me: "He's not a priest, he can't 'bless' anything!" Friends: "Uh, it's 'bless.'" They were right.



Getting into NE was easy because that same cluster of words that propelled me down into the SE also propelled me up. SOFT TOP = easy (7D: Feature of many a Jeep—I have a friend who drives just such a vehicle), and AUTO HARP ... well, the -OHARP was in place, so ... easy guess (8D: Producer of simple chords). Except for in the NW, everywhere there was tough stuff, the non-tough stuff took care of it. RACEME was scary, but with a few crosses, I remembered it. Still not sure I understand HALOS (31D: They may appear over icons), but I'll just assume that the icons in question are religious ones—saints and what not. Not up on my MILL POND trivia (40D: Wheel-powering reservoir), but with just -LL- in place, I knew it was MILL something. "Reservoir" in four letters = POND. So, everything fell my way, and then it didn't. And then, eventually, it did again.

Good clues:

59A: John's neighbor (BIDET)
53D: Doctors with spirits (LACES)
50D: Part of an English wizard's spell? (ZED)
38D: One with a notably hard bed (PAPA BEAR)
68A: Past paranoia producer (RED SCARE)

Bullets:

• 63D: Rondo producer (KIA) — Always handy to have a general awareness of car models.
• 34D: "___ of Her Own" (Clark Gable film) ("NO MAN") — Me: "Clark Gable starred in an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's feminist essay 'A ROOM of Her Own'!?" But it's "A Room of One's Own," and no.
  
• 42D: Cover-up unlikely to fool anyone (COMBOVER) — favorite answer in the grid, I think.
  
• 46D: G.M. system with a "Virtual Advisor" (ONSTAR) — The "G.M." part made it a cinch for me. Without the brand name, it might have been tougher, though probably not much.
• 60D: Zodiaco animal (TORO) — the bull. One of those answers that just filled itself in accidentally.
• 22A: Old Chicago Outfit frontman (NITTI) — pure xword memory. I have no experience with him outside the grid.
• 29D: Dadaist Hausmann (RAOUL) — whoa ... no idea. Just inferred his name from the last three letters. Berlin Dada ... whoa, his photo is Krazy.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. Dear Diana, Isaiah (age 11), and *especially* Hana (age 13), I got your package today, and I don't really know what to say except — I'm incredibly touched, and incredibly grateful (see hand-stitched rendering of my Aug. 17, 2010 NYT xword debut, below). One of the nicest things anyone (who doesn't know me personally) has ever done for me. I mean ... I showed my wife and *she* teared up. The grid, along with your note with the (aDORable) pictures, will hang on my wall forever. Seriously awesome. As one of my Facebook friends said when I posted the pic to my FB wall: "That's up there with Van Gogh's ear as far as impressive presents go." Thank you thank you thank you. All of you.